Felices Pascuas!

I had a very low-key Easter (Pascuas) this year. Argentines generally get Thursday and Friday off before Easter weekend, making it the perfect weekend for end-of-summer/ beginning-of-fall vacations. Lots of people go to the country with their families. Some of my roommates even went to the beach (though I think it was a little cold). I didn't go anywhere, but I did visit the church near my apartment for the Easter Mass. It was nice (I don't think I've been to church on Easter since I was 10, but whatevs), and sort of appropriate given the large Catholic population here. In a way I was surprised about this, in a country where Christmas Eve is OBVIOUSLY about partying with your friends, as is basically every other holiday. Argentines definitely value family time, but the holidays don't always reflect that.Most of my students told me that Argentines traditionally go to church, have a meal with their families, and eat chocolate on Easter, but none of THEM actually went to church this year, so it sounds a lot like a typical American Easter, sans Bunny. On a gross variation of the Easter Egg Hunt, Argentines traditionally enjoy a sweet yellow cake with hard-boiled eggs in it on Easter. I didn't try it, so I can't really comment, but that just doesn't sound enjoyable to me.

In one class, I ended up having an hour and a half discussion about holidays. Argentines get a bunch of days off around this time of year (March 24: Dia de la Memoria, April 2: Dia de los Veteranos y los Caidos en la Guerra de Malvinas, April 8 and 9: Feriado de Pascuas, May 1: Dia del Trabajador, May 25: Dia del Primer Gobierno Patrio) but not many during the rest of the year. My students thought it was weird that we get all kinds of holidays, like MLK Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, etc. I thought it was weird that they have most of their days off crammed into a two-month period in the fall. Seems a little silly, but whatever you're used to, right? I personally like the American tradition of spreading out the holidays, so we get a break every few weeks.